James Caan has reportedly quit the set of David O Russell's new film following an argument about how best to choke on a cookie.

Nailed is a political comedy about a woman who travels to Washington to fight for better healthcare after she gets a nail lodged in her head. It stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Jessical Biel, James Marsden and Catherine Keener.

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the veteran Godfather actor was hired to play the US speaker of the House of Representatives, and had only just started on the first of his two days of shooting. The script called for Caan's character to choke to death on a biscuit. But when directed by Russell to cough as he choked, Caan reportedly refused, arguing that it was impossible to cough and simultaneously choke to death. Despite Russell's suggestion that they shoot the scene both ways, Caan apparently walked off the set.

Caan's publicist has insisted that the departure was amicable, while producer Douglas Wick has already stepped in to defend Russell's behaviour on the set, which only began on April 15, as thoroughly professional. However, film fans will remember Russell's turbulent track record. He and George Clooney reportedly had an altercation on Three Kings and YouTube records for posterity the name-calling that occurred between him and Lily Tomlin during the filming of I Heart Huckabees.